Slovenia, as the EU Presidency, has issued the following statement on behalf of the EU and a number of other countries, expressing grave concern at the draft penal code that the Iranian parliament is currently considering.
25.02.2008
Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the EU concerning the consideration of a draft Penal code in Iran
The European Union is deeply concerned by the on-going deterioration in the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The EU expresses its acute concern about the news that the Iranian Parliament is reviewing a draft Penal code. The EU is concerned, in particular, about Section Five on Apostasy, Heresy and Witchcraft.It is important to note that, if the law is adopted, it will be for the first time that the Islamic Republic of Iran had in its criminal code, as a legal stipulation, the death penalty for apostasy. In the past, the death penalty has been handed down and carried out in apostasy cases, but it has never before been set down in law. Furthermore, grave concern is also expressed over the articles concerning heresy and witchcraft, which determine death penalty as the punishment for acts that are contrary to the obligations and necessities of Islam.
These articles clearly violate the Islamic Republic of Iran’s commitments under the international human rights conventions, to which Iran is party.
The EU calls upon the Iranian authorities, both in Government and Parliament, to modify the draft Penal code in order to respect the obligations under the international human rights conventions to which the Islamic Republic of Iran is a party. In its current state, the draft Penal code is not consistent with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s obligations and therefore should not enter into force as currently drafted.The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.
This draft penal code could have a devastating effect on the Baha’is of Iran, since many of them could be condemned under the new law’s apostasy provisions:
Apostasy provisions
Article 225-1: Any Muslim who clearly announces that he/she has left Islam and declares blasphemy is an Apostate.
Article 225-2: Serious and earnest intention is the condition for certainty in apostasy. Therefore, if the accused claims that his/her statement had been made with reluctance or ignorance, or in error, or while drunk, or through a slip of the tongue or without understanding the meaning of the words, or repeating words of others; or his/her real intentions had been something else, he/she is not considered an apostate and his/her claim could be heard and justified.
Article 225-3: There are two kinds of apostates: innate (Fetri) and parental (Melli).
Article 225-4: Innate Apostate is someone whose parent (at least one) was a Muslim at the time of conception, and who declares him/herself a Muslim after the age of maturity, and leaves Islam afterwards.
Article 225-5: Parental Apostate is one whose parents (both) had been non-Muslims at the time of conception, and who has become a Muslim after the age of maturity, and later leaves Islam and returns to blasphemy.
Article 225-6: If someone has at least one Muslim parent at the time of conception but after the age of maturity, without pretending to be a Muslim, chooses blasphemy is considered a Parental Apostate.
Article 225-7: Punishment for an Innate Apostate is death.
Article 225-8: Punishment for a Parental Apostate is death, but after the final sentencing for three days he/she would be guided to the right path and encouraged to recant his/her belief and if he/she refused, the death penalty would be carried out.
Article 225-9: In the case of a Parental Apostate, whenever there appears to be a possibility of recanting, sufficient time would be provided.
Article 225-10: Punishment for women, whether Innate or Parental, is life imprisonment and during the sentence, under the guidance of the court, hardship will be exercised on her, and she will be guided to the right path and encouraged to recant, and if she recants she will be freed immediately.
Note: The condition of hardship will be determined according to the religious laws.
Article 225-11: Whoever claims to be a Prophet is sentenced to death, and any Muslim who invents a heresy in the religion and creates a sect based on that which is contrary to the obligations and necessities of Islam, is considered an apostate.
Article 225-12: Any Muslim who deals with witchcraft and promotes it as a profession or sect in the community is sentenced to death.
Article 225-13: Assistance to the crimes in this chapter, in case there is no other punishment assigned to it by law, is punishable by up to 74 lashes in proportion with the crime and the criminal.
Photo © squarcina under a Creative Commons licence.
Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Islam, Iran, majlis, apostasy, blasphemy, penal code, death penalty, EU
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Forgive my ignorance, but I can’t understand why “many of them [the Baha’is of Iran] could be condemned under the new law’s apostasy provisions”
My understanding is that the vast majority of Baha’is in Iran were born to Baha’i parents. Although some were born to mixed parentage, it seems on initial reading that this law would only class those people as an apostate if they had themselves declared themselves Muslim after reaching adulthood.
The clauses on heresy would only seem to apply to those inventing heresies – as the Baha’i Faith was “invented” many generations ago it would surely not apply?
I’m afraid the criminalisation of apostacy is common throughout the Islamic world- often with the death penalty. Iran is by no means unusual in this regard
I hope this quote from Ruth Gledhill’s blog on The Times website may help to clarify the matter:
“The Baha’is have reason to be worried. As they said today, the draft code’s section on apostasy mandates the death penalty for anyone who changes his religion from Islam. It also extends to naming as an apostate any follower of a religion other than Islam who had one parent who was a Muslim at the time of his or her conception. For example, the child of a Muslim and a Christian who chose to be a Christian would be considered an apostate and subject to capital punishment.
“Dr Nazila Ghanea, lecturer in human rights law at Oxford university and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Religion and Human Rights, said: ‘The laws will give the Iranian government legal grounds to resort to taking the lives of any of its citizens who choose to adopt a religion other than Islam. The code is a gross violation by the Islamic Republic of Iran of its obligations as a party to a number of international human rights instruments, particularly those relating to freedom of religion or belief.’
“‘Among those most affected if the law is passed will be members of Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority, the Bahá’í faith. Following the 1979 Iranian revolution, when it became known that Bahá’í men and women had been tortured and executed purely on grounds of their religious beliefs, the international community made it clear at the UN and in the media that such abuses were not tolerable,’ the community said today. Since the 1980s, although the community continues to be severely oppressed, the Bahá’ís are no longer facing mass executions.
“‘Iran’s government and clergy have made concerted efforts to quietly subjugate the Bahá’í community and eliminate it as a viable entity in the country,’ said Dr Ghanea, who published a book on the human rights of the Bahá’ís in Iran in 2002. ‘With this penal code, they will have legal grounds to resort once again to taking the lives of Bahá’ís – and of any other of Iran’s citizens who choose to adopt a religion other than Islam.’”
I apologise I misread it!
“Article 225-6: If someone has at least one Muslim parent at the time of conception but after the age of maturity, without pretending to be a Muslim, chooses blasphemy is considered a Parental Apostate.”
I guess that would cover any adult Baha’i with mixed Baha’i/Muslim parentage, although of course not Baha’is with two Baha’i parents.
Have you seen any research into how widespread this mixed parentage is?
It would be interesting to see if any research has been done on the mixed parentage of the Baha’is in Iran.
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